


Lotus Intertwined

by Hantaliel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith can shift between galra and human form, M/M, Slow Burn, Time Travel, a conciderable amount of OCs, most of the rest of the voltron cast makes an appearance at some point or another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-05-14 04:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14762666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hantaliel/pseuds/Hantaliel
Summary: Three years after joininig the war against Zarkon and the Galra, a Blade mission goes wrong. Keith is flung through a portal to...Earth, just in time to see Shiro's escape pod crash into the desert near the Galaxy Garrison.His journey back to his own timeline was never meant to be a straight one.





	1. Prologue: Star Stranded

**Author's Note:**

> Ahahaha...Hi.
> 
> Um. So. Uhh...First thing first:
> 
> Canon compliant up until end of season 4. I'm far from happy with the handling of Lotor throughout season 5, so I'm going for my headcanons that I had from before s5 dropped.
> 
> Second: No promises when it comes to consistent posting of updates. But one thing I will promise: This fic will be finished. If it doesn't, then I'm most likely dead. This brain child has truly done its utmost to get out here. Keith's even made cameos in my dreams. So here. First chapter. Just to motivate myself. If it's out here then I have no choice but to finish. No?
> 
> But, um...First fic ever in this fandom...so I'm somewhat nervous...  
> Not beta'ed or anything, so definitely open for constructive criticism. Actually, I encourage it ;w; English is my third language, so there will be weird phrasing here and there. It's simply unavoidable.
> 
> Hope you like??

 

The sun slowly descended upon the horizon, bathing the desert sand in a warm red glow. It was quiet for the moment, but soon the ground would come alive with sounds of life as the native creatures woke up to go about their business.

 

A light flashes just as warm dusk turns to deep midnight blue night and a portal sparks to life, hovering in midair. A lithe figure and a small dagger glints as they fly through, swiftly followed by several large tapered arms dwarfing the figure thoroughly. They all crash into the dunes, sand exploding in every direction. The figure rolls aside and grabs the dagger, barely avoiding being skewered by the barbs lining the length of the frankly disgusting arms.

 

While dodging the blind flailing of the tentacles, the blade glows in deft hands for a moment and turns into a sword as it slices at the offending attacker. The monstrous arm barely seems hampered by the puny weapon cutting into its thick hide at all. The other arms converge on the cut area and continue the assault.

 

Meanwhile the figure has jumped onto one of the arms, running up the length of it and heading for the portal with a sense of urgency. Electricity crackles around the portal, sparks flying everywhere, and it suddenly flashes out of existence just as fast as it appeared. The gigantic jerk violently and falls lifelessly to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The small figure tumbles to the ground with them.

 

They slowly pull themselves up, knees planted heavily in the sand as they stare wide eyed at the place where the portal used to be just moments before. They don't give themselves any more time to freak out and checks their suit's system instead. It tells them that the atmosphere of the place they've landed in is compatible with their respiratory system, so they pull off their helmet with a hiss, shaking their head to straighten out their hair a bit.

 

Keith takes a long breath to calm himself down before turning his attention to his immediate surroundings, trying to identify it. Nothing stands out in this area at all. Only tall sand dunes cast in the silvery light from the single white moon hanging low in the sky.

 

Helmet in hand, he picks a direction at random and walks, leaving the severed tentacles behind.

 

The coms were down. He had tried getting trough the last few minutes, but all he got was was silence in return. Where the hell was this? Was he even on the same planet still? The same galaxy? No. Wild speculations wouldn't help his situation. 

 

Judging by what he could see at the moment, could it be a desert planet? In that case he certainly wasn't on the same planet he landed with his team earlier. Or maybe he'd just landed in a desert area. He would still not be on the same planet. Last he checked he'd been on a water and forest planet that really reminded him of Olkarion, except that rather than having the warm and golden glow permeating the atmosphere, this planet had had the feel of Galran military vessels.

 

This new place however felt somehow eerily familiar. As if he should know exactly where he was, if only he looked closely enough...

 

He started to climb a huge sand dune, figuring if he could get to higher ground, maybe he'd find the clue he needed. As he neared the top, he sat down and took a short break. According to his suit, about a varga had passed since he'd lost contact with his teammate. He sighed, glancing up at the sky as he often did when his mind was troubled, seeking out the tranquility of the universe in display above him to soothe his worries.

 

Wait... Was that...? 

 

Keith scrambled to his feet and wobbled as he ran the rest of the way up to the top of the dune to get a better vantage point. Catching his breath as he reached the top, he scanned the sky with growing trepidation.

 

He knew this sky.

 

He knew this sky all too well.

 

It was a sky under which he'd lived some of his fondest memories. The sky that had seen him in his loneliest hour, the sky he had screamed his lungs out at; his frustrations, his loss, his grief. The sky that had been his salvation in the desert. The desert that, judging by the placement of the familiar constellations, had to be impossibly close too... 

 

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, taking measured breaths as he slowly counted down from 10.

 

There was no doubt about it. He was on Earth. Earth! Of all the places in the universe to be teleported to, it had to be Earth. Earth that was almost uncountable light-years away from where he wanted to be at the moment. 

 

_Fuck._

 

Earth didn't exactly posess tech advanced enough for him to just jump on a ship and be able to get to where he needed to be within a reasonable time space. Maybe getting in touch with the Castleship was a more realistic course of action. Not that he could think of anywhere where they might have the hardware capable of doing it. Unless...Pidge and Matt's father, Sam Holt had brought something capable of long distance communication spanning the galaxy and beyond. Maybe he could even borrow the ship Mr. Holt arrived with. It should have a warp engine, knowing Pidge wouldn't send off her own father with anything less than the best tech available.

 

Either way, he had to get out of this desert, and the Galaxy Garrison would be a good way to start. If only he had an inkling of where in the desert he was... 

 

The ground slowly turned a warm orange as something large burned through the sky overhead. The thing collided with the ground, creating a blast wave strong enough to ruffle Keith's hair, despite the considerable distance.

 

Keith frowned. He wanted a closer look, but getting to the crash site would take too long on foot, especially while stuck in a desert with no supplies. His suit's propulsion system only had a finite amount of fuel as well. He had to be very frugal with the use so that he'd have the mobility in an emergency.

 

With all other options unfavourable, he sighed and concentrated, eyes fixing on the bottom of the plume of smoke on the horizon. A pale yellow tint slowly took over his scleras as his pupils elongated into cat-like slits. It was a trick he'd learnt from Krolia just recently. He hoped he'd be able to get back out there soon, and spend some more time with her if possible. He still didn't feel comfortable calling her his mother. Certain things had to be worked through before that time.

 

With the change he could clearly see the familiar tan vehicles that he remembered from the Garrison swarm the site, people wearing white hazmat suits jumping out in frankly impressive numbers. There were a couple of Garrison fire trucks busy with taking out the fire. A door on the space ship is kicked out from the inside, and Keith recoils. His legs give out, and his eyes returns to normal.

 

It was Shiro. That hair was unmistakeable; the white bangs, the undercut. The Galran prisoner garb.

 

Keith really did not like the implications.

 

Drawing a deep breath for what felt like the n'th time the last few hours, he muttered "patience yields focus" as he forcibly tried to calm down his frantic heartbeat. He needed a clear head.

 

Any semblance of calm shattered when his sharp eyes caught the dust trail of a nostalgic red hoverbike, and an intimately familiar red jacket fluttering in the wind.

 

Keith, after three full years in outer space essentially waging guerilla warfare against a vast intergalactic empire and a youth full of hardships, had thought that he couldn't possibly experience his world shattering for a fifth time after all that he'd been through.

 

He was wrong.

 

In this moment, despair was all his heart was capable of feeling.


	2. Home Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAAS! It didn't take me over half a year to post another chapter! I am so proud ;w; Hope you guys enjoyed, and thank you so much for all the kudos on the first chapter. I really wasn't expecting such a big response QuQ I am truly overwhelmed.
> 
> Hope chapter 2 lives up to your expectations.  
> Unbetaed. What's the phrase that I've seen around here...uh..."we die like men"? Yeah...that. Plz notify me if you catch any spelling/grammar errors. <3

_ STATIC _

_ CRACKLE _

_ CRASH _

_ Sharp inhale. “I…think I just figured out why this mining planet has been abandoned for so long…” _

_ Grunt. “what was it you said earlier? ‘Don’t worry, there doesn’t seem to have been anything alive around here for centuries’? Y’know, i really hate it when you’re wrong and my gut feeling is right.” _

_ Snort. ”Cheeky runt.” _

_ “What are our odds?”  _

_ “Regarding the original mission? Not great.” _

_ “Ok. Abysmal. Noted. So how do we get outta here in one piece?” _

_ “Oho? Your social cue antenna seems to be improving! Congratulations.” _

_ “Really? That’s what you focus o–” RUMBLERUMBLESCREEECH “Shit! Lotor!” _

_ STATICSCREAM _

_ CRACKLE _

_ BOOM  _

_ STATIC _

_ “KEITH–” _

_ STATIC _

_ STATIC _

_ STATIC _

~

The tinkling sound of moving water echoed from somewhere in the cave system. Keith took a moment to just breathe; focusing on the soothing sound, calming his racing heart. Leave it to his subconscious to remind him of how he’d ended up in this predicament when it was the last thing he wanted to think about. His head felt like it was bursting at the seams.

On total autopilot, his legs had taken him to the empty shack. The sense of helplessness just piled up higher and higher for each and every detail he stumbled across. A telescope abandoned carelessly outside, faint footprints leading to and away from it in a hurry. The door was unlocked and creaked at that very specific angle. Everything else was also just as he remembered he had left it that day. The ratty couch. The tower of instruments in the corner that he only partly knew what were for. His own messy link board. The post-it notes. Everything.

He was right back where it all started.

Knowing that the future paladins, his friends, would be returning any moment, he hadn’t wasted any time in digging up a backpack from the closet. A few shifts of clothes, water bottles, B-rations and a few cans of canned food, along with a few other handy items were thrown in. 

He’d hesitated at the door, scanning over the interior of the shack for anything else he’d need. This would be the last he’d see of this place for a very long time, if he’d get to see it again at all.

The chocolate bar from the fridge got stuffed in with everything else and then he’d left, heading for the caves Blue resided. The subtle tug on his entire being, that he’d all but forgotten about in the years that followed, had pulled him along till he’d found the old entrance to the caves. He’d collapsed with exhaustion and fallen asleep in a small nook in the wall just inside the mouth of the cave. Backpack cradled protectively in his arms.

Still snuggled into the nook he shifted up into a sitting position and reached into the backpack, pulling out a analogue pocket watch. It was a small thing that fit right into the palm of his hand, made of a plain but sturdy, brushed, metal. It had to be wound up to work, which was a testament to its age. An heirloom, from the family his dad never talked about. It had mostly lain in a small leather pouch stuck at the very bottom of his duffle of possessions gathering dust before he’d rediscovered it after being kicked out of the Garrison and started using it as a coping mechanism when he’d first moved out to the shack. He’d forgotten all about it again, till he found it while looking for the Swiss army knife his old self forgot.

The knife he knew he wanted it with him. He’d wished he had it on many occasions, and now he could. He wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip.

He idly wondered if Krolia would appreciate the watch. She would definitely love the knife.

He thumbed the button at the top of the watch neck, flipping up the cover. 決意 was delicately carved into the inside of the lid. He couldn’t remember what it meant, but it reminded him of the good days, the best ones of his childhood. The time he played hide and seek with his dad and climbed on top of a ceiling beam in the attic; his dad hadn’t been able to find him so Keith had decided to just drop directly down onto his shoulders when he finally passed under. Playing a one on one splash-war with the water hose on a boiling hot day. Tinkering on the hoverbike. 

A tiny piece of nostalgia. A tiny piece of an old home.

Home.

It hadn’t been home for a long time, even at this point in time. This time’s Keith was tending to his version of home back at the shack right now, while his own home… his was three and a half years into the future, and galaxies away.

Keith wasn’t even sure if that was the case. He could be in a parallel universe for all he knew. Hopefully he was only dealing with a time travel incident. Not that it made his situation any better. He had no clue as to how to proceed. No idea how to get back. Despite the plethora of advanced technology that he had come across in the years since finding Blue, he’d never even heard of an incident about time travel. Slav was constantly blabbering about probabilities and alternate universes, but even he had never said a word about this particular topic.

Slav.

If anyone could help him figure shit out and come up with a working solution, it would be him. Problem was, in this time he was still stuck at Beta Traz, and Keith on Earth. But not for long.

The thin hands of the watch showed 06:37. Earth time.

A few more hours, and  _ they _ would be here. 

Keith slid the watch back into the bag and shuffled out of the small nook that had served as his shelter for the night. It was probably best to find his way down to Blue before the others arrived. Not being seen was also probably a good idea. He wasn’t exactly supposed to be here. The future implications of him being here was too much for him to even consider, but his gut feeling told him that it was best to not change the events he remembered if he could avoid it.

Either way, now he needed to find a way down. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to enter the same way he had the first time, but he knew his parents had found a way in there before this somehow. He just needed to find it too.

The surrounding stone wall was littered with carvings. Some were easily identifiable, others were complete mysteries. The ones depicting the lions themselves were the easiest to understand. The others... Keith let his fingers gently trace over the nearest carving, slitted eyes appraising them in the dim light from the distant cave entrance. This particular one was two humanoid figures holding hands underneath a third larger much more imposing humanoid figure with a long snaking tail.

They were as beautiful as they were the first time he saw them. He idly wondered if Red had resided in a similar cave somewhere. Yellow had had a cave too. Green had had a pyramid. He wasn't sure what was cooler.

No.

Pyramids.

Pyramids were definitely cooler than caves.

He was just about to step away from the wall when the carving underneath his fingertips lit up in a brilliant blue. The ground underneath his feet disappeared in a flash of identical blue light.

_ Figures! _

Air whistled loudly in his ears as he clutched the bag in his arms tightly. His feet landed in a few centimetres of rushing water and surfed downwards on the slippery limestone underneath. He wasn’t able to keep his balance all the way to the end of the tunnel, where it opened up into Blue’s resting spot. His butt had gotten soaked pretty good, though considerably less than last time, which he counted as a tiny victory.

Blue drew his gaze as it sat in the middle of the cave, regal and silent. The mesh that made up the protective barrier keeping Blue safe from intruders shimmered, lighting up the area around it like a halo. Just like last time.

A warm feeling welled up in his chest as he approached Blue. It reminded him of Red. And Black to some extent, but it was strange. He couldn’t remember feeling this last time he was here, seeing Blue for the first time. Why…

Yellow eyes lit up, piercing through the blue mesh like twin lasers. The air trembled. The stare was intense, but not hostile. Forcibly lowering his shoulders, Keith gingerly touched the mesh dome with his fingertips. His breath hitched. The faint tremble from earlier increased to an insistent hum. Keith’s vision swam, and then went white.

Places. Faces. Colors. Feelings. Feelings. Feelings. Visions flashed before his eyes faster than he could process them.

Then they ended. 

He was left gasping for breath, a sense of urgency thrumming in his veins and something else he couldn’t quite put a word to.

His hand still tingled.

“What the hell did you just try to tell me, Blue?”

Screams and the sound of wildly splashing water reached his ears. Shit. He was out of time. He had to hide. Fast.

A spot on the ground about a dozen metres to his left flashed a bright blue. He was really getting tired of being lead around by the nose, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. Keith dashed over to it and slid into the nook he found there. It seemed to be just deep enough to hide him and his backpack from view.

The screams abruptly ended with louder splashes. Someone said something that turned into a low murmur bouncing off the inside the cavern. Keith wasn’t able to make out any words till they got a bit closer to Blue. Lance was muttering about how Blue’s eyes were following him. He couldn’t help but smile a little at that, knowing what he knew.

Keith chanced a peek over the edge of his hiding spot. Him from the past was the first to get to the forcefield, touching it much like he himself had just moments prior. Nothing happened though, until Lance just went up and knocked on it as if it was a door. The forcefield brightened, casting out strands of ethereal mist that scattered and faded to nothing within moments, and Blue’s eyes lit up again much like they had earlier. Except this time the ground beneath Blue also lit up, and the forcefield burst like a bubble.

The others stood there frozen.

Ah. Right. This was when they got to see what Voltron was for the first time.

Keith couldn’t help but smile a little at their total freakout over it. They were so innocent. In no way ready for what was to come.

Blue got up onto all four paws, and lowered its head to the ground right in front of the future paladins. Its mouth opened and the ramp flipped down and touched ground right at Lance’s feet.

Keith tensed. There wasn’t any other way into blue except that entrance. He’d have to sneak in without being noticed, and the window for doing that was pretty small.

Lance skipped inside, the others followed at varying speeds; Hunk being the last to enter, looking queasy. Keith rolled out onto level ground and dashed forward, silently glad he’d agreed to get the last stealth upgrade to his suit just before the last mission. His footsteps were light and barely made any sound as he vaulted into Blue’s mouth from the side and skidded through the airlock just as Blue straightened itself up.

Keith caught a glimpse of Hunk’s boots disappearing up the staircase up to the cockpit as the door to the airlock closed with a hiss behind him. His pulse ran uncomfortably high for the minimal physical exertion he’d just done. It seemed like he hadn’t been noticed. Good.

The door right opposite the airlock opened up to a hallway that lead down to a small living area of sorts. There was a small table, a chair, both built into the wall and floor respectively. A fluffy couch in the corner, and door that turned out to be a cramped toilet with a tiny sink and a mirror that Keith knew hid a secret compartment behind. The second door lead down to the belly of the lion, where the cargo hold was and maintenance chutes were accessed. All the lions were built somewhat identical on the inside it seemed. Relief trickled into his heart and he relaxed just enough to completely lose his footing when Blue suddenly moved.

Oh right. Lance. This was Blue, not Red or Black. Blue. And Lance was piloting it for the first time. He cursed as he scrambled over to the chair and strapped himself in, clutching the backpack tightly.

Lance was a worse pilot at this stage than he remembered.

~

The trip from Earth to Arus took a lot longer than he expected. It probably had to do with him being unable to physically see things fly by this time, only having his bag and his mind to occupy himself.

What would he do when they got to Arus anyway? Stay in the castle ship? Too risky. The castle sensors would be able to locate him. Having two identical biometric signatures in the same space would definitely arise suspicion and there was nowhere to hide from the castle’s systems within the castle.

He didn’t want to alter the time stream too much. If he did he might not be able to get back to  _ home _ .  _ His home _ . The thought hurt.

He needed to get away from the Castle of Lions. Away from the Paladins, Allura and Coran. Lay low somewhere. Get in contact with Slav. Or wait three and a half years. Alone. In a world he doesn’t belong in, not yet. He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to drive away the numb feeling that crept up from his fingertips.

Camping outside then. Arus was a good place for that. Until the Galra battleship he knew would be appearing soon arrived and he could steal a warp able spaceship from the hangar to take him to the nearest habitable planet. Out of the way of the upcoming turmoil.

The floor shook as Blue landed. Keith could hear the others running down the stairs from the cockpit, right past the door he was hiding behind, and out onto solid ground. He himself spent a bit more time getting out of Blue, turning around to pat the side of Blue’s muzzle as the ramp retracted back to its default position.

“Thanks for the ride, Blue.” he murmured as a farewell, for now. Hopefully. A hum bounced up his arm from where he was touching Blue, filling him with warmth.

_ Good luck, little Kit. You will succeed. I’m sure I will see you again. _

Keith blinked. Did Blue just–?

Blue shifted upright again, and took off to one of the towers of the castle, disappearing from sight. 

Succeed? What was that supposed to mean?

Frowning, Keith slung his backpack onto his shoulder and trudged away from the way too open bridge. It was best to set up a camp somewhere less open. 

~

_ “What is your home planet like?” _

_ Keith’s hands slowed to a halt, knife resting in lax fingers on top of the whetstone, glancing at the Blade sprawled out on his bed. Long tresses of faint lavender hair splayed like a waterfall down the side. _

_ “Why do you wanna know?” _

_ Lotor just smiled. “Humor me.” _

_ Pulling out a rag to wipe away residue from the blade and dry the whetstone, Keith considered where he would even start. Earth was a complicated place. “It’s...uh, very diverse. Seventy percent of its surface is covered with water. Aside from that you can pretty much find any kind of environment there. Scorching deserts, humid forests, mountain ranges that span several continents and touch the sky with their snow capped peaks, mist covered marshland…and somehow people have settled on every single continent, regardless of the conditions. Humans are pretty crazy.” _

_ “What about where you live? What is your home like?” _

_ Keith pulled a single strand of hair from his bangs and ran the knife edge along it, testing the sharpness. The hair split, peeled off itself, and fluttered to the floor languidly. Home, huh…  _

_ “...I...I moved around a lot.” He stared hard at the knife in his hand, his voice quiet. “The place I stayed the longest was in the desert. The sunsets there are some of the most spectacular sights I’d ever seen before...all this.” He gestured vaguely. “The sky a brilliant orange, casting a golden glow over the massive sand dunes. The animal life slowly creeping out into the open as the temperatures lowers with the setting sun...” _

_ “Sounds breathtaking. I’d like to see it someday.” Lotor shifted onto his belly and propped himself up on his elbows, sharp eyes fixing Keith with a soul piercing stare. “But. You didn’t answer my question.” _

_ “Hm? Ah.” Keith’s eyes flicked up to Lotor then back down to the knife as he drew a shaky breath. “The only place I’ve ever called home...doesn’t exist anymore. Went up in flames a long time ago.” _

_ “...Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.” _

_ “Don’t worry about it. I’m not that bothered about it anymore.” _

_ The silence that followed was a bit tense. The faint slide-thunk of metal on leather as the knife was shoved back into its sheath, and the clunk of the whetstone being placed back in its usual spot on the shelves being the only sounds breaking it. _

_ Lotor probably didn’t have a home either. Not one he could return to until after the war ended at least. Maybe that’s why he asked... _

_ Keith stood by the shelves for a moment longer than necessary, gathering his thoughts. He didn’t feel ready, but he needed the stability. He didn’t feel ready, but maybe… maybe Lotor needed this just as much as he did. Maybe…  _

_ His father, Shiro, Kolivan, Krolia. They all passed through his mind, strengthening his resolve.  _

_ Turning to face Lotor, Keith murmured just loud enough to catch Lotor’s attention again, “Home doesn’t necessarily have to be a place though. It could be a person too.” _

_ Sharp blue eyes fixed him with an intense stare as Lotor slowly pushed himself up and over to the edge of the bed, legs planted firmly on the floor, elbows resting on his knees. Something in that look had a painful lump make itself known in the middle of Keith’s chest, throbbing quietly. He pushed on. _

_ “But a home isn’t always something you find either. It’s something you build...so...I'll...I'll be your home. For now. If you want. We’re partners, aren’t we?” _

_ The last thing Keith expected to see were the silent tears trickling down Lotor’s face, looking like he’d seen a ghost. _

_ He’d just gone and said the wrong thing, hadn’t he. Great job Keith. Great job. He should have just kept his mouth shut. He really should have– _

_ “Thank you, Keith. I… I appreciate the sentiment. Truly.” Lotor wiped away the tears, forcing out a pained, but genuine, smile. “I might take you up on that, just not quite yet. It’s…a bit too soon.” _

_ Keith only nodded, returning the smile with one of his own. He didn’t feel ready to build a new home either, not so soon after running out on Shiro and the others. But it didn’t seem as daunting as it had just a few moments ago. Maybe he was more ready than he thought.  _


	3. Past Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This chapter has been a challenge. Had half of it written, and then I rewatched the last half of the first episode to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything only to realise I’d made a ginormous mistake regarding the progression of the story with regards to canon and had to delete, rethink, and rewrite the whole thing. orz  
> I knew this fic was going to get long, but it didn’t really dawn on me how gargantuan it will actually be till I checked the word count for this chapter and… well. All I can say is, this will be a very very long ride. Hopefully I’ll execute it well enough for y’all to stick around till the end. *crosses fingers*
> 
> Anywho! Enjoy! 
> 
> Still unbetaed tho, so sorry if y'know, things are bad. PLz tell me where I fucked up, if I did.

Keith stared down at the sheer drop mere centimetres from the tips of his toes. Well. This wasn’t...ideal. He had completely forgotten how the area around the Castle had looked like. How the Castle was embedded into a mountain with sheer cliffs on all sides. The soaring stone bridges leading away from it that ended in jagged edges and several hundred meters of empty air. The closest forest he could see looked like an uneven patch of green with his normal human eyes from his current perch.

He would need to recharge his suit if he was to have any hope of getting down to ground level, and then back up again when he needed to hitch a ride up to the Galra cruiser that was going to arrive within the next day or so.

If only he had access to…

Keith slowly turned to eye the Castle.

There were suit charging stations in each and every one of the rooms within the living quarters. The hangars also had adjacent changing rooms with available storing and charging stations…

He could…

No. It was too risky.

Or was it?

Only a few minutes had passed since Blue had landed on Arus. Allura and Coran were probably just being woken up as it was. This might be the best time to sneak in unnoticed. Recharge his suit, gather essential information, figure out where to head for next, lay low, execute subsequent plan.

Better not waste any more time. The longer Allura and Coran got to orient themselves to their new reality the faster they would have the Castle’s systems up and running, and the likelihood of Keith being discovered would increase exponentially.

The front entrance was still wide open, the lights inside dim compared to the bright sunshine outside. His eyes took a lot longer to adjust than he would have liked. While he knew these hallways better than the equipment pouches hanging from his belt, he needed his eyesight to make sure he himself wasn’t seen. The suit’s power was down to a measly twenty one percent, and if he wanted to get it charged as fast as possible he would be better off not using its functions for now. Which meant, no noise cancelling and no melding-into-background camouflage. Shouldn’t be too hard. He’d lived without those features in his suit for longer than he’d had them.

Getting to one of the pod hangars in the lower parts of the ship was less eventful than he had hoped to expect. The changing rooms were just like he remembered them being. Two rows of lockers made up the walls of the room with a wide padded bench dividing it in the middle. The two other doors at the end leading to brightly lit shower stalls and toilets. It was comforting, for that one moment where everything felt normal.

That came crashing down when he opened one of the lockers at random. Something tumbled out and he instinctively jerked his foot away to avoid getting hit. It was a helmet. The locker was full. Keith swallowed.

He had wondered, when he had first come to the Castle, why it was so empty. It was huge, and obviously built to house a considerable amount of people, just judging by the insane amount of personal rooms. But anywhere he had looked, it had been clean. No clothes lying around, no spare space suits, no trinkets. Nothing.

Yet here it was. He gingerly picked up the helmet and turned it over. It was identical to the helmet Allura once used before she became a Paladin, except that the leaf shape on the top was a pale green instead of the soft pink Alluras had been. The suit inside the locker had the same color scheme as the helmet. His gaze slid over the rest of the lockers in the room. Was this whole room filled with relics of people long gone? He put the helmet back onto the shelf inside the locker, closed it, and headed over to another random locker. Then another. More suits, helmets, small rectangular datapads the size of his palm, jewelry, and other unknown trinkets.

Eventually he found an empty locker, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t feel right to remove any of the things from the other lockers. He already felt like he was desecrating a graveyard, just opening them and exposing the contents to air for the first time in ten thousand Deca-Phoebs. An empty locker though, didn’t feel wrong to borrow.

Stripping out of his suit, Keith connected it up to the charging port before stuffing the rest inside. He pulled out a towel from his backpack before chucking that into the locker as well. The suit said it needed an hour to fully charge. He might as well take a quick shower before doing anything else. He needed one, and there was no guarantee that he would be getting one again any time soon.

After five soothing minutes under jets of warm water, Keith efficiently dried himself off, dug out some fresh clothes and started dressing. Strange...the shirt was tighter than he’d expected. And shorter. Short enough to leave both his wrists and a few inches of skin around his waist exposed if he raised his arms.

Huh. He hadn’t realised, but he guessed he had grown a bit since he left Earth the first time. The Paladin armours could alter their size to fit anyone who wore them. Alteans were shapeshifters after all, so Alfor had of course incorporated that technology into the suits when he made them. With the Blades, his suit had gotten several upgrades, and for all he knew he could have simply gotten a new and slightly bigger suit each time.

The tightness of the shirt didn’t hamper any movement, so he guessed it wasn’t that big of a deal. He just hoped the pants still fit. They were snugger around his thighs and calves than he’d prefer, but it would just have to do. 

What was more important now however was finding and accessing a hub. Closest one would be the ones inside the pods sitting in the hangar.

Keith headed for the door, but before he had taken more than a few steps, he hesitated. What was that sound–

The door slid open on its own. Keith hit the floor and slid underneath the padded benches. He angled his head so that he could see the bottom of the open doorway. All he could see was a pair of dark blue and grey boots. Coran? Why was he here?

Long seconds passed, but nothing happened. No noise, no movement.

Keith could hear his own heartbeat. It was so loud that he worried it would give away his position, even though he knew it wouldn’t.

_ “Slow and controlled breathing makes the least noise.” _ Keith still remembered Kolivan’s stern look as he had said those words as the very first lesson as his apprentice, and had him just doing breathing exercises for a full quintant. He remembered being so pissed at the time, but it had turned out to be very sound advice and had saved his ass more times than he could count.

A heavy sigh penetrated the heavy silence. Then the boots shuffled their way into the room, heading straight for one of the lockers. The sound of one of them opening made Keith’s stomach drop. Then another, and another, and another, until finally Coran came to a stop barely a meter away from the locker where Keith had stuffed his things.

No matter how carefully he controlled his breathing, his heart had other ideas, and thundered away in his ears so loudly he almost did something stupid when Coran sat himself down on the bench right on top of him.

Quiet sniffs and hiccups reached Keith’s ears, and his eyes caught a few drops of clear liquid hit the floor between Coran’s blue boots. Grief. That was an emotion Keith rarely saw Coran express. He was always so cheerful. The goofy uncle. But of course he would grieve, especially at this point in time.

Again he viscerally felt how out of place he was, stuck and involuntarily eavesdropping on a very private moment.

A few more moments passed like that, and then there was a slapping noise as Coran audibly shook and composed himself.

“You all deserve a proper funeral. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get it done.” The bench rustled, and blue boots marched out of the room with renewed purpose. “But first! Ready a pod to retrieve the Green Lion!”

The doors hissed shut.

Keith slid out from his hiding spot.

Retrieving the Green Lion. Shiro and Pidge had taken the pod for that. Or, they were going to. Hunk and Lance would head out as well, soon. Pick up Yellow. Come back...and then…?

Right, the Paladin suits, and bayards...because Sendak had arrived. If he wanted to sneak into Green before they all headed out for Sendak’s cruiser, that would be the optimal moment. He needed to get to the Green Lion’s hangar. 

For now though, he would have to wait in here till Shiro and Pidge had left in the pod, and Coran left the hangar. There was no way he could sneak out now without being noticed. 

So he settled down by his borrowed locker, grabbed the pocket watch from the back pack and waited will he heard the distinct sound of a pod taking off.

~

Green landed gracefully in the hangar. Keith watched from a shadowed corner, suit activated, as Pidge and Shiro both walked down the ramp, chattering happily. Pidge gushing how amazing the Lions were and about all the possibilities, and the strange and fascinating technology they might come across in their immediate future. How much she could learn and bring back to earth.

Keith only had eyes for Shiro though. He had almost forgotten, and hadn’t had much time to think about it before, but Shiro looked good here. His smile wide, his movements animated. There were still dark circles under his eyes and a tightness to his shoulders, true, but his eyes were bright and alive.

It was a stark contrast to the Shiro Keith had seen last, before this time travel debacle. The war had taken its toll on them all, Shiro most of all. But something had been wrong. Something Keith didn’t want to think about. And Shiro was adamant about everything being fine. Just a bit of a headache. All Keith could do was trust him, so that’s what he did. What else could he do?

Keith deactivated his suit when the hangar doors closed behind the other two. He hitched the backpack further up his shoulder and strode up to Green that had settled itself into a sitting position.

He had no idea if he was even going to be able to board it at all just yet. Maybe he had to sneak aboard the same way he snuck aboard Blue later when Pidge, Shiro, and his younger self returned to fly out.

Apparently, he worried for naught. The moment he touched Green’s front paw, the wire harness lowered and came to a stop beside him.

Green was silent though. No telepathic growls, no vibrations, no subtle pull. Nothing. It was as if Green was deliberately quiet.

Keith frowned, but settled a foot into the harness and curled his hand around the wire nonetheless. If Green didn’t want him here the harness wouldn’t have been lowered in the first place, and certainly wouldn’t pull up either. He breathed a little easier as the floor slowly fell away underneath him, and he eventually climbed in through the airlock, settling down in a corner of the cargo hold.

Exhaustion was slowly creeping up his spine, making him dizzy. Feeling somewhat relaxed for the first time in almost 30 hours, it didn’t take long before his eyes slid closed, and he nodded off to sleep.

~

The dark hallways and dim magenta lighting of Sendak’s cruiser made sneaking around in his grey Blade suit child’s play. He didn’t even need the suit’s cloaking capabilities. Sneaking around the Castle and the Lions where the walls were white and the lights were bright had been an experience way outside of his comfort zone for several reasons. This was much more his speed.

Most of the cruiser’s forces were outside, fighting the Yellow and Blue lions, which meant a significantly less fortified interior. Avoiding the few left-over patrols of sentries and drones was laughably easy. Trying to make sense of the hallways was a bit more difficult. While all Galra cruisers were built after more or less the same blueprint, there tended to be alterations made, depending on the ship’s purpose and the commander in charge of each individual ship.

Keith eventually found himself peeking his head into an empty hangar. All that was left in there was large maintenance carts, and stacks of quintessence pods that served as fuel cells for the fighters.

At least he was on the right floor. Now he just needed to find an unused fighter or cargo ship he could steal for the next leg of his travels.

He turned a corner and skidded to a halt. There was a squad of sentries crowded at the entrance of the next hangar. Magenta light flashed erratically as the sentries fired their lasers at something inside the hangar. What were they – oh. Him. They were firing at him.

That had to be the hangar Red was in. Now that he was aware of it, he could feel the familiar pull. How had he not noticed that before? Stupid. He could even hear his younger self shouting.

The sound, and the following explosive drop in air pressure pulling him towards the entrance of the hangar told him that things were progressing just as he remembered. He grabbed hold of the edge of the hangar door when he slid there, just in time to see his younger self being pulled out through the opening in the floor.

A loud whirring sound made him look up, and a thick wall of metal was slowly descending on him. He turned and slid back first into the room, using the thrusters on his back to avoid getting blown too far into the room and then possibly out into open space. The wall hit the floor with a loud clunk, and the uncontrolled decompression slowed to a halt as all the remaining air left the hangar. It seemed that the Cruiser’s systems had activated its safety walls in response to a hull breach.

Keith deactivated the thrusters and looked up at Red, who hadn’t moved an inch, still inside its mesh forcefield. Wasn’t it supposed to...He remembered he’d tumbled around in space for a while. Exactly how long, he had no idea, but it felt like Red should have blasted out of there by now.

He jogged over to Red, slowing down as he neared it and reached out his hand to lightly touch the red mesh.

“Hey, Red. The hell you waiting for?”

_ You. You’re late, Cub. _

The mesh disintegrated into a shining red mist, and faded away to nothing.

Keith’s breath caught in his throat.  _ What? _

A low rumbling growl rolled out from Red. It conveyed a feeling of urgency, and something else Keith was unable to identify. Just like Blue had, except that there was a third layer of...something...?

_ Now, get outta here. I better see you again. _

Red let out a beam from its mouth, widening the opening in the floor as well as a large gash into the far wall, and shot out of the hangar together with the second wave of explosive depressurisation from the adjacent room.

Keith made a frustrated noise as he slid backwards towards the hole in the floor, barely managing to latch onto the console with the help of the thrusters on his back.

“Really? Really!? You’re just gonna suddenly actually talk to me for the very first time and then just–just leave me with  _ that _ !? You AND Blue. And Green for that matter! Even if  _ you _ are mind-reading telepathic mecha lions, doesn’t mean that  _ I _ share your mind reading capabilities!”clenched and unclenched his jaw a couple of times. Calm. Calm.

He really wanted to break something.

The console under his hands was blinking an angry red.

He needed to scram. And fast.

The depressurisation of the adjacent room seemed to slow down to a manageable breeze. His feet finally managed to touch the floor again.

While Red was impulsive and moody, it usually didn’t act without reason. Blowing such a large gash into the wall meant that there had to be something in there he could use. Or, at least he hoped there was.

He turned on the thrusters again, and flew through to the other side, dodging debris as best as he could.

The hangar was in total chaos. Which was to be expected. It was what happened when nothing was strapped down or in closed off compartments when the hull is breached.

However, there were two fighter jets there. One had toppled over with one of its wings crushed and drowning in a cart full of quintessence pods, sparks flying dangerously. The other had broken landing gear, but otherwise looked fine.

The entire ship lurched.

No time to hesitate, Keith hurried over to the second fighter and climbed inside, powering it up. Ah? Wait. This hangar didn’t have any other exits except the main door which had been closed off by the safety wall that most likely had descended earlier when the hole in the wall appeared.

Well then. Blasting the hole in the wall till it was big enough should do the trick.

Keith escaped out of the cruiser just as it started entering the Arusian atmosphere. 

As he ascended out and away from Arus, the fighter momentarily lagged. A line of Galran text slid across the main display, and Keith understood it to loosely translate to  _ “Initiating remote control from Bridge. Command: return to base.” _

Good thing Kolivan had given him lessons in the Galran language. Whatever translating mojo the Lions had graced him with only covered the oral spectrum. And it was far from perfect. Words that had no human language equivalent tended to be left untranslated, which in a sense was nice. But on missions where being able to read and understand could either be the key to success or the reason for failure, and failure usually meant death, one couldn’t decide to not learn.

Fingers flying over the keyboard, Keith deactivated the remote control, hit the throttle and sped away in the direction of the nearest system with habitable planets.

The last he saw of Arus as he left was the dazzling light from the ion cannon brightening up the Arusian atmosphere, making the planet look like a small luminous pink ball shrinking in the distance.

 

~

 

_ Lotor swiftly caught up to Keith, his footsteps light on the smooth metal floor, and kept up an acceptable distance behind. _

_ Keith pointedly kept his gaze forward, focusing on navigating the hallways of the Castle. The silence dragged on for a few moments until they walked past the kitchen, and Keith offhandedly pointed towards the door and mentioned what it was before continuing on towards the elevators. _

_ Lotor hummed. _

_ As they descended further into the Castle’s core, Keith ran a running commentary on where to find what, emphasising that whatever personal room Lotor got he would have to talk to Coran to know the location of. _

_ Keith made a beeline for the first door to the left when the elevator finally opened and went inside without a word. Lotor followed a bit more leisurely, calmly observing the surroundings. _

_ “Where are we now?” _

_ “The infirmary.” Keith said while rummaging through the various cabinets, squinting at all the labels in Altean. Where was it Coran had put those things again…? _

_ Lotor blinked, confused. “Are you hurt?” _

_ Keith glanced at Lotor over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. _

_ “No.” He moved on to the another cabinet, letting out a small triumphant “Aha” as he found what he was looking for. _

_ “Then why are we here?” _

_ Keith grabbed a small sealed tub and a wand-like item from the cabinet, as well as a few packets of gauze from another. He walked over and came to a stop right in front of Lotor. _

_ “Strip.” He said, face completely neutral. _

_ Lotor gawked down at him. “Excuse me?” _

_ “Take. Off. Your. Clothes.” _

_ “Aren't you rather forward.” _

_ Keith huffed, rolling his eyes and gesturing towards the narrow bed in the corner. “Just sit down and show me your wrists and shoulders.” _

_ Lotor hesitated, his blue eyes searching Keith’s. _

_ Keith met the gaze unwaveringly. “You're hurt. Let me take a look.” After a longer pause, he added, “Please.” _

_ Lotor straightened his back and strode over to settle down on the bed, gingerly starting to loosen the wrist guards. Keith followed, wordlessly asking if it was ok if he helped with a simple hand gesture and a tilt of his head. Lotor gave a curt nod. He spent the next few seconds just observing Keith’s movements as he efficiently found the hidden clasps and zippers on his suit, pulling it off Lotor’s shoulders and pooling it loosely around his waist. _

_ When Keith got to the removal of the undershirt, he stopped momentarily, eyes flickering up to Lotor’s face. “How elastic is this...?” _

_ “Why is that important?” _

_ “To find the least painful way of removing it.” _

_ Something about Lotor’s expression felt off to Keith, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.  _

_ Wordlessly Lotor pulled off the undershirt hímself, hissing as he did. _

_ Keith took the shirt and folded it haphazardly beside Lotor on the bed as he eyed the rather impressive dark bruises that ran across the shoulders and around both wrists. It reminded him of his own after the Blade trials. This should help though. _

_ Grabbing the tub of ointment, he twisted the lid off, scooped up a dollop of soft pink goo and gently applied a thin layer of it on Lotor’s left wrist. _

_ Then it was the wand’s turn. He flicked the switch, and half its length lit up with a soft turquoise glow. Bringing it over the ointment made the soft pink color shift to an angry red. _

_ Lotor breath hitched. _

_ “Right. I should have warned you about the cold…” _

_ “Don't worry about it.” _

_ Keith wrapped the wrist with gauze and moved onto the left shoulder, giving it the same treatment.  _

_ He could feel Lotor eyes burn holes into him as he worked. _

_ “If you got something to say, say it.” _

_ Lotor pursed his lips and took his sweet time replying. When he finally did, the words came out slow and deliberate. “Thank you. For doing this...and for earlier. If it weren’t for you speaking up I’d probably be locked away in a cell right about now.” _

_ “Don’t mention it. I owe you one anyway.” _

_ “Owe me? For what?” _

_ Keith felt his throat closing up. “Doesn’t matter.” He didn't sound off. Good. _

_ “I’d still like to know.” _

_ “No.” _

_ Goo, wand, bandage. On to the last wrist. _

_ As Keith finished up the last of the wrapping, Lotor lightly grabbed Keith’s wrist. _

_ “Can I ask you a question? There is just one thing that I can’t quite make much sense of.” _

_ Keith replied with a single raised eyebrow, pulling his hand back. _

_ “Who are you?” _

_ “What?” _

_ “I mean, what is your position here? You're not a Paladin, yet your words carry a lot of weight here, in line with Princess Allura and the Black Paladin. You can’t be a leader for one of the factions within the Voltron Coalition; how else can you afford to be here doing...this.” Lotor glanced at his bandages. _

_ Keith swallowed, jaw tight. “I'm just a Blade of Marmora operative. No one important.” _

_ “I disagree.” _

_ Clenching and unclenching teeth, internally debating what to say, whether to say anything at all, Keith slowly moved his gaze from the floor to meet Lotor’s, face set in a frown. _

_ “Why do you even want to know?” _

_ “Mutual understanding and trust is the key to a good partnership. I’m fully aware that I need to build trust here if I am to be of any use as an ally, and to do that I need at the very least a basic understanding of you all. Just having the same enemy isn’t exactly the most stable basis for a long lasting and trusting relationship. ” _

_ “So you’re starting with me.” _

_ A nod. “Yes.” _

_ Keith took the tub, wand and the remaining gauze and put them back into the cupboards as he considered his options. _

_ “So, are you going to grace me with an answer?” Lotor asked from his seat on the bed. _

_ Drawing a long breath, Keith made a decision. _

_ “I started out as the Red Paladin.” _

_ “What happened?” _

_ “Things. Happened.” It came out a bit more forcefully than Keith intended. “We ended up without a Black Paladin for a while.” _

_ “The Black Lion chose you?” _

_ “Mmh.” _

_ “You don’t sound very happy about that.” _

_ “I wasn’t.” _

_ “Wait....Thayserix. You were the one piloting the Black Lion.” _

_ “Yeah.” _

_ “That was your very first sortie with it, wasn’t it.” _

_ “Was it that obvious?” _

_ Lotor chuckled. “Three of you were all over the place, it was disgustingly obvious. Yet you polished up your flying much faster than the other two. Quicker than I’d expect to see anyone do with any unfamiliar spacecraft.” _

_ “You didn’t exactly give us much choice.” _

_ “Oh, but I did didn’t I. You were the one who pursued, despite knowing you were technically down by three lions.” _

_ “I know that! I–” Keith tried to swallow around the growing lump in his throat. He didn’t want to think about it. Definitely didn’t want to talk about it. _

_ He needed no reminder of the numb fingertips, the aching joints that he knew wasn’t physical, the feeling of constantly being on the verge of losing control. Lashing out despite knowing he shouldn’t, but still feeling better after, if only marginally. And angry, so angry, and hurt and so many other feelings he didn’t really know how to deal with, didn’t want to deal with. _

_ Because Shiro had disappeared. Again. _

_ But that was in the past. Several months in the past in fact. And Shiro had reappeared. Everything should have been back to normal. Yet…  _

_ The feeling that had crept up on him after Shiro’s return, of being a stranger in what should have been his own home, still clung to him like a thick layer of volcanic ash. Just continuously drawing breath here was a struggle sometimes. _

_ “Keith?” _

_ Keith blinked. His eyes refocusing on pearly white tresses being way too close to his face and a large pair of hands just shy of touching his arms in an almost mockingly worried gesture. He was breathing to hard, nausea had come knocking. He needed to be alone. Without another word he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving Lotor confused and alone in the infirmary. _

_ He couldn’t stay in the Castle much longer. Not when he was like this. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious enough, the last part is set right after the end of season 4, and Lotor and Keith has rendezvoused with the Castle. The flashbacks will make more sense...later.
> 
> Oh, btw, you can find me on tumblr under nekoraiga ;) Come scream Keitor at/with me if you want <3
> 
> NEXT: Keith breaks some stuff, gets recruited into a circus, and finds out that he can shift more than just his eyes and basic senses.


End file.
